Middle East Studies Association

Mission Statement

The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is a non-profit association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples through programs, publications and services that enhance education, further intellectual exchange, recognize professional distinction, and defend academic freedom in accordance with its status as a 501(c)(3) scientific, educational, literary, and charitable organization.

Annual Meeting

November 14-17, 2019
Sheraton New Orleans
new orleans, louisiana

#MESA2019

Join us in November for MESA’s 53rd annual meeting in The Big Easy. Attendees will enjoy three days of academic panels, a bustling book bazaar, and a film festival screening the latest in documentary films on the Middle East.

Academic Freedom

The Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) seeks to foster the free exchange of knowledge as a human right and to inhibit infringements on that right by government restrictions on scholars. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provide the principal standards by which human rights violations are identified today. Those rights include the right to education and work, freedom of movement and residence, and freedom of association and assembly.

Become a Member

Be a part of a community of scholars who are passionate about the pursuit of academic knowledge on the MENA region. Join others in helping MESA defend academic freedom and civil and human rights. Share your research at the annual meeting and submit articles for MESA’s journals. Participate on a MESA committee to help recognize outstanding scholarship or work to advance the field. Join MESA today and be a part of something great!

Member Announcements

Security Alerts for Researchers and Students

There are two active security alerts issued by MESA’s Board of Directors for those embarking on research in Egypt and UAE.

MESA Board Statement issued at MESA 2018 in San Antonio

MESA Board Affirms Commitment to Fight Antisemitism as Form of RacismSan Antonio, TX—November 15, 2018 Over the last two years MESA proudly partnered with HIAS, the International Refugee Assistant Project, and individual plaintiffs to challenge President Trump’s Muslim Ban. Represented by ACLU, our collective case went to the Supreme Court. We did not stop the ban; we succeeded at tempering it in our collective stance against all forms of racism and xenophobia. READ STATEMENT

CAF’s Resource Guide on Canary Mission

MESA’s Committee on Academic Freedom has issued a resource guide for college and university leaders on actions they can take to counteract a secretive, political organization called Canary Mission that uses its website to engage in defamatory attacks against college students and faculty who engage in advocacy for Palestinian rights and academic inquiry about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Follow MESA’s Work on the Muslim Travel Ban

When President Trump issued Executive Order 13769 (the first Muslim travel ban) on January 7, 2017, MESA and the ACLU began discussing ways in which MESA could be useful in a lawsuit against the ban. MESA ultimately joined as a plaintiff in IRAP v. Trump. Now in its third iteration, the Muslim travel ban continues to be challenged in court. A timeline of MESA's involvement with the lawsuit:

March 20, 2019 – The MESA Board deplores the ongoing detention of Dr. Hatoon al-Fassi who has been detained since June 21, 2018, by the government of Saudi Arabia. Dr. al-Fassi was among ten Saudi women brought to a closed-door court hearing on March 13, 2019 on unknown charges.

February 27, 2019 – The Board of Directors of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and its Committee on Academic Freedom strongly condemn the Sudanese government’s violent suppression of peaceful public protests since December 2018, and the arbitrary detention of protestors, including many academics.

The Tunis Exchange

The 12th Tunis Exchange will be held in Association with the Democracy and Governance Program at Georgetown University June 9-16 and will engage participants from around the world in a multifaceted discussion of some of the key issues facing Tunisia and the wider region. Registration Deadline I April 15/Registration II May 15, 2019

Loyola University Maryland

The History Department at Loyola University Maryland invites applications for a one-year Visiting Assistant Professor/Lecturer in Middle Eastern and North African history, with the possibility of a renewal. Review of applications will begin on March 25.

Congratulations to Karen Pinto on receiving the inaugural Inclusivity and Diversity Travel Grant to present her paper, “Mapping the Worlds of the Global Middle Ages,” during the MMA’s 94th annual meeting, March 7-9 in Philadelphia.

Letter denouncing the aggressive public smear campaign against Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian related to her research and expressing concern regarding the Hebrew University’s failure to protect her.

Association for Middle East Women’s Studies

The Association for Middle East Women’s Studies (AMEWS) is pleased to invite submissions of abstracts for an international conference on gender and women’s studies in the Middle East in the second week of March 2021 in Beirut, Lebanon, in partnership with local universities (American University of Beirut and Lebanese American University). This is the first AMEWS conference in the Middle East. Abstract deadline: October 30, 2019

Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy

The Israel Lobby and American Policy conference is solely sponsored by the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep).

Arab World English Journal

Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) welcomes the submission of papers for the July 5th special issue on Computer-Assisted Language Learning (July 2019). The deadline for manuscript submission is May 31, 2019.

Brown University

The Center for Language Studies (CLS) at Brown University seeks a dynamic language professional for a full-time position as Visiting Lecturer in Turkish beginning July 1st, 2019. Deadline: April 15, 2019

Tufts University

The Department of International Literary and Cultural Studies at Tufts University is seeking two part-time lecturers to teach up to three Arabic Language courses in the fall of 2019 semester with the possibility of renewal. Responsibilities are limited to language-teaching duties.

Princeton University

The Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University invites applications for a postdoctoral or more senior research position in the culture, history, politics, economics or religion of Iran and the Persian Gulf region in the 19th - 21st century, with preference for the cultural aspects of the above, starting in September 2019. Deadline: March 31, 2019

Stay Connected

MESA offers several ways to stay connected, including a young-people-approved presence on Facebook and Twitter, oldie but goodie listservs, and trusty email notifications. To find out more, please follow the link below.